Good news: Robert Pattinson is starring in a new movie about James Dean. Better news: The Twilight actor isn’t portraying the late, great bisexual film legend. Even better news: It won’t be a traditional biopic of the ’50s superstar because, well, do we really need another one?

The British thesp will headline Life, which documents the relationship between famed photographer Dennis Stock (Pattinson) and the mercurial screen star in 1955 when they visit Dean’s hometown in Indiana just before he became world famous. The photographs taken during the cross-country trip became some of the most indelible images of the actor. Dane DeHaan, who won exceptional notices in another ’50s-set pic, last year’s Kill Your Darlings, will portray Dean. Although he’s just started shooting, director Anton Corbijn, whose credits include the terrific Ian Curtis bio Control, is already effusive about his cast.

“Rob has an intensity that I think Dennis would have. When I see Rob, I see an inner turmoil that is great for the role,” Corbijn told Entertainment Weekly. “And Dane is really interesting. He has a beautiful face, but it’s a hard face to grasp. It’s hard to see how Dane reads sometimes, and the same thing goes for James Dean.”